Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

I’ve spoken before about our desire at Upfront Ventures to fund really big ideas that solve hard problems, are science led and if successful will both have a positive effect on people’s lives as well as make great financial returns. We’re not Pollyannaish about this. We believe that it is incrementally harder to differentiate on simple Internet products or mobile apps and while great companies are built doing this, our goal as a fund is to try and fund things that can be 100x returns if they wor

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Cofounder Differentiation Hosting Design 207

YoungUpstarts

MAY 18, 2016

Husband and wife team Jason Womack and Jodi Womack recently launched their first co-authored book, “ Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck “ Unlike the promise of many self-help books, their book isn’t a typical one-size-fits-all recipe for success, but instead provides valuable insights into the psychology of change and how to direct focus to experience fulfillment. “ Get Momentum ” aims at coaching individuals on the mindset, skill set, and toolkit require

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David Teten

MAY 20, 2016

My colleague Sebastian Soler, software engineer at ff Venture Capital, is leading the launch of a new Meetup with me. I asked him to write a guest post: Hi! I’ve just launched a new Meetup and online community I’m heading up with David. Our meetup is focused on how to use technology to enhance investing in private markets, including VC, growth, buyout, and distressed.

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Private Equity Equity Cap Table Venture Capital 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2016

Most new entrepreneurs have great ideas, and many are highly skilled in building their solutions. Unfortunately, far fewer have the focus and experience of building and maintaining a highly engaged team. They don’t realize that strong team engagement leads to even stronger customer engagement, which can more than double your startup revenue and growth, according to experts.

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Leadership Software Review Social Media Employee 144

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in

Startup

Up and Running

MAY 17, 2016

I often use steering as a metaphor for business planning. Even when you have a steady highway, steering takes attention and constant small corrections. When the road gets curvy, corrections are more drastic. So too with running your own business, or starting a new one. You don’t just set a course; you watch results, review often, and revise as needed.

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Metrics Social Media Business Plan Advertising 80

YoungUpstarts

MAY 16, 2016

By Taryn Naidu, CEO of Rightside. One of the first and most important decisions any CEO, founder, or startup is going to make is what to name the company. It’s a decision that will inform every phase of your business’ future. And for years, entrepreneurs struggled between their desire for the perfect name and a rapidly diminishing supply of.COM domains.

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Naming Startup Social Media Operations 124

Hearpreneur

MAY 15, 2016

Share Each business has a story. No matter if the business is a Goliath like Wal-Mart, or a local business owned by a couple or family, the business has roots in an idea. For each business owner, the story of their journey can range from monetary needs or the passion for a unique project. Each story is different though the reasons may remain the same.

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Entrepreneur SEO Web Merger 74

Up and Running

MAY 16, 2016

Do you find yourself driven by both entrepreneurial and humanitarian interests? Is it important to you to build a business you can be proud of, knowing you are making a positive difference in people’s lives? If any of this speaks to you, you could be an excellent candidate to start a home health care business. There’s never been a better time to do so— home health care is one of the largest growing industries , not just in North America, but around the globe.

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North America United States Technical Review America 95

YoungUpstarts

MAY 17, 2016

We are living in a time when everyone is connected almost 24/7. The onslaught of mobile devices and computers is not going to end anytime soon, which means that companies that don’t change with the times will find themselves falling behind the competition. The good news is that web design and online presence can really help to catapult your business to the front of the pack, providing you do it right.

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Web Design SEO Mobile 113

SVPG

MAY 19, 2016

There is a very common fallacy about developers in our industry, and I think it hurts countless companies. Have you ever heard the old accusation that developers only want to solve problems for themselves? They’ll spend countless hours, often on their own time, to create amazing tools for themselves and the developers they work with. But just try to get them excited about building something for “the business” or “the customer" and good luck.

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Developer Engineer Design Customer 60

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 18, 2016

Building a great team is nearly always the key difference between the success or failure of a business. Each person we hire contributes to not only the development of the product, but also to the productivity of the team and overall company culture. When we make a bad hiring decision, we not only affect the product, but we also affect the team, the company’s culture, and the potential success of the business.

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Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

Reading lists are dime a dozen, but reading lists that focus on rapid-growth startup businesses? Not so much. Below, you will find a list of books recommended by serial entrepreneur David S. Rose. If you’re planning to start and build a scalable, high-growth business, get ready to fill your bookshelves. Alongside each description, you’ll also find a few words from David.

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Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

YoungUpstarts

MAY 19, 2016

by Gadiel Morantes , chief revenue officer at Early Growth Financial Services. A Jenga tower is a precariously built one. Just as likely to crumble from the pulling of an important piece as it is from being breathed on, the structure of the blocks determines the game’s outcome. Think of a tech startup the same way. Its long-term health relies on a multitude of factors, some evident and others completely out of left field.

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Technical Review Burn Rate IP Intellectual Property 124

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 17, 2016

How to Turn Your Browser Into a Marketing Tool written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. I use the Chrome browser and judging from the data I get from Google Analytics so do 60.12% of my site visitors. Chrome is certainly winning the browser war at the moment and this is due in large part to the growing set of tools, plugins, and extensions that extend the power far beyond basic search.

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Marketing Software Review SEO Analytics 45

View from Seed

MAY 18, 2016

Many folks have discussed the role and value a board of directors can bring to a startup, even very early in the company’s lifecycle. The purpose of a board is not simply to be the founders’ friend… it is to help govern the company and provide input into its strategic direction. Directors have a responsibility to act in the best interest of all shareholders/stakeholders in the company.

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Seed Stage Cofounder Later Stage Government 216

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2016

I’ve never understood why so many business employees still think it’s fashionable to display a negative attitude about their work and never seem to find a job they enjoy. They don’t realize that they are their own worst career enemies, since promotions and new opportunities always are offered first to people who proclaim to be productive winners, rather than sound like losers.

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Hosting Employee Leadership Product 138

YoungUpstarts

MAY 18, 2016

When a company is faced with a merger or acquisition situation, things can get a little hectic. There are many questions up in the air and not only are employees worried, but clients will wonder if your enterprise will maintain its integrity after the change. With some hints and tips from a reputable resource such as Merger Technology , you can embrace the upcoming changes and work towards making the most of it, both for yourself and those you work with.

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Merger Acquisition Technical Review Reputation 100

Steve Blank

MAY 16, 2016

We just held our seventh week of the Hacking for Defense class. Now with over 750 interviews of beneficiaries (users, program managers, stakeholders, etc.) almost all the teams are beginning to pivot from their original understanding of their sponsor’s problem and their hypotheses about how to solve them. Minimal viable products are being demo’d to sponsors and sponsors are reacting to what the teams are learning.

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San Diego Metrics Indonesia Silicon Valley 142

Brandanew

MAY 16, 2016

It’s a growing field. But many think of content as a field with a need for extensive resources that can’t fit into the plan of a lean startup or small business. While Google and Facebook have made content marketing fashionable, we do see a lot of people wondering if it is really worth the time. Does content marketing actually work? If you had just two seconds, the answer is a resounding YES!

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Marketing Cost Social Media Lean 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2016

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. In fact, the latest figures show that crowdfunding has already grown to over $30 billion in 2015, exceeding the amounts contributed by either angel groups or VCs alone.

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Angel Groups Accredited Investor Equity Due Diligence 136

YoungUpstarts

MAY 18, 2016

By Cheryl Wood, CEO of Personal Power Enterprises and author of “ The Glamourless Side of Entrepreneurship “ Celebrating the success and fearlessness of women is essential for women’s empowerment. An empowered woman seeks out her passions and purpose, serves her community as a leader and role model and her self-care is a main priority. Along with this, empowering language and a positive mindset can help you to overcome any feelings of doubt.

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Global Community Developer Entrepreneur 178

Rembrandt Communications

MAY 18, 2016

3 Tips to Turn Your Content Into Sales You write and post blogs on a regular basis, but nothing happens. They just sit there and you waste time, money and effort. What’s going on? Well, it can be simple to turn your blog content into sales. Here are three, simple tips to turn your blogs […]. The post Why Your Blog Doesn’t Work and How to Fix It appeared first on Boost sales fast with content marketing strategy, SEO and PR here.

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PR SEO Sales Marketing 124

Brandanew

MAY 18, 2016

If you’ve been dabbling in corporate storytelling , this is a good time to think through how to take your stories to another level. It’s important to master the secret ingredients to a remarkable story structure to stay ahead and consistent. As a brand struggling to ensure that you stay close to your tonality and purpose, it’s critical to stay structured.

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Audience Social Media New York Media 113

Version One Ventures

MAY 17, 2016

Running a start-up is profoundly different than running a big company. When you’re small, founders are close to the action and can make sure all the important things happen. But as a start-up scales, founders can’t have their hands in everything: many companies lose focus on the customer; decisions get bogged down; and there are hiring mistakes. We’ve all seen these things happen to good start-ups.

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API Early Stage Hiring Acquisition 113

YoungUpstarts

MAY 20, 2016

Starting a new business is an exciting time, but it can be very frustrating if you are not prepared for the obstacles and challenges faced by entrepreneurs on a regular basis. Read on to learn more about four things you should focus on if you feel that you are destined to pursue your business dream: Know Your Target Client. “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” – Peter Drucker.

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Entrepreneur Audience Hiring Employee 133

Feld Thoughts

MAY 14, 2016

For your Sunday video watching, I encourage you to spend ten minutes of your life and watch Chris Moody ‘s Commencement Address to the Auburn 2016 graduates. His message is simple: Work Hard. Be Kind. Having worked with Chris for many years, it’s a great summary of how he lives his life. And he ends with a magnificent Dalai Lama quote. “Be kind whenever possible.

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Video Management 96

YFS Magazine

MAY 18, 2016

When it comes to building an online business it all starts with your know, like and trust factor. By following these best practices and being consistent you will begin to gain exposure and become a trusted industry authority.

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Sales Marketing 104

Up and Running

MAY 20, 2016

When it comes to starting or running a bakery, the delicious resources you have access to are almost limitless! To give you a head start, here are some of our favorite sources. So, whether you’re yearning to open your own micro-bakery, or become a chocolate artisan, we’re willing to bet there’s something here for you. If you have any of your own favorite resources to share, please leave a comment below!

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New York City New York Channel Networking 96

YoungUpstarts

MAY 18, 2016

Good business owners are constantly on the look-out for new ways to improve and better themselves. If you own a small business, chances are you want to be the best business owner ever in order to ensure that your company is a resounding success and experiences amazing rates of growth and development. In order to run a better company, it’s vital for you to become a better business owner.

Networking 124

Networking Small Business Employee Customer 124

Feld Thoughts

MAY 17, 2016

I’ve made a lot of major decisions in my life – both personal and professional. For the professional ones, I’ve come up with an approach that I now use consistently. I try on the decision for a period of time – the more significant the decision, the longer the period of time. For the really major decisions, I try them on for 30 days.

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San Francisco Internet Portfolio New York 108

YFS Magazine

MAY 18, 2016

I know what this journey is like. I’ve started and grown four businesses from scratch, and I have walked the walk. I have been self-employed for years.

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Developer Startup 106

The Next Web

MAY 15, 2016

Running a website, selling a product, building a business – it’s all about incremental improvements based on user feedback. But what if your users aren’t sure what they want? Or what if they tell you one thing, but act in a different way? The key is user data: With the right data, you can find out what your users really think and how to make your site, product or business better.

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Web Entrepreneur Product Startup 82

YoungUpstarts

MAY 16, 2016

By Pamela Webber, Chief Marketing Officer at 99designs. For all the new freedoms and exciting milestones that entrepreneurship brings, there are also a number of unexpected road bumps that come up along the way. The good news is that there are also a ton of online resources that can help you get started and (hopefully) steer clear of common early-stage missteps.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Early Stage Social Network Acquisition 124

The Equity Kicker

MAY 17, 2016

Some companies find fundraising easy. That’s usually because of work they’ve done at some point in the past (truly amazing growth, serial entrepreneur, some other magic) but when it comes to the actual fundraising process they’re courted by multiple investors and raising cash is quick and easy. We have a few of those companies in our portfolio (and hope to have a lot more), but we also have companies that have to work much harder.

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Naming Portfolio Hosting Founder 89

SiliconHills

MAY 16, 2016

Opinion: By Courtney Powell Special to Silicon Hills News This has been a difficult week for many Austinites. The Prop 1 campaign has galvanized the community, and rightly so. There was no shortage of opinions, interests, or ego on either side of the debate. I believe it was a poorly executed campaign on both sides, […] The post The True Cost of Prop 1 for Austinites: $29M, Jobs, Funding and Lives appeared first on SiliconHills.

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Cost Campaign Community Austin 90

The Next Web

MAY 18, 2016

When you’re founder, and have spent a ton of your time building your operations, it can be tempting to try to be the hero who does it all. But to keep your company growing, and keep your company’s culture and your own life healthy, you’ve got to be able to face your own limitations and recognize that you can’t do it all. I’ve learned all these things myself as I’ve grown my leadership and my companies over the past several years, so I’m not telling you anything I haven’t learned myself.

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Leadership Web Operations Founder 84